IM Nuvo 20 Balanced Reef

[KCReef]

Hi Reefer Community,

 

Another Nuvo 20 AIO build starting up here.  I would consider myself a newbie, although I had a nano reef back in 2004 for about a year.  I had just graduated from college and I somehow got it into my head that it was something cool to do.  Let's just say that at the ripe old age of 24, I wasn't prepared for the cost and responsibilities involved with recreating a piece of the ocean in my apartment.  Fast forward 16 years, and that itch of wanting to keep marine fish and grow corals has resurfaced.  But this time I have 2 little kids of my own and they are as excited as I am to give this a try.

 

My goal is to create a nano reef that has a lot of movement, giving the appearance of an abundance of life that my boys can enjoy.  At the same time I would like the tank to be fairly easy to maintain and be able to withstand the inevitable mistakes that we are bound to make.  Theo, my 3 year old is heavy handed when it comes to feeding the fish, he gets upset when he only gets to feed them a pinch.  To that end, I want to start with some hardy fish, then layer in a generous mix of macroalgaes both to display and in a small refugium.  Next, add some softies and a few LPS for movement.  

 

Equipment:

Nuvo 20 AIO with upgraded Eheim return pump (bought off FB Marketplace)

Hygger Mini Powerhead

AutoAqua ATO - 2.5g bucket from Ace Hardware as reservoir (Fancy, I know)

AquaStar G5 LED lighting (SmatFarm as sold on Amazon)

Fluval 0.5g HOB breeder box with a growlight for Chaeto

 

Cycling - 3 weeks until Ammonia peaked then came down to 0

20# CaribSea Live Pink Fiji Sand

15# Marcos Reef Saver

2# Ceramic Ring Media in Chamber 2

Fritz Reef Pro Mix/RODI

1 Costco Raw Shrimp

Brightwell Microbacter 5ml daily x 2 weeks

 

Fish 

2 True Oscellaris Clownfish 

1 Yellow Watchman Goby

1 Purple Firefish

1 Engineer Goby (This wasn't even on my radar but the LFS talked me into it, I know rookie mistake!)

All the fish were purchase as babies < 1.5 in

 

Pictures and updates to follow shortly

[spazizz]

If you want movement, I suggest frogspawn, aquacultured goniopora, finger leathers and pulsing xenia (if you're aware of its particular challenges). These are relatively hardy corals if you keep up with your weekly tank maintenance. 

[Jaren45]

That light is legit, I’ve been using it on my nuvo 20 for 6 months or so. My settings are 15, 60, 60, 50, 5, 20 in case you wanted to know.

 

 

Looking forward to seeing updates!

[travoose]

I second what @spazizz said...I have just setup a 20 Nuvo and transferred my Frogspawn over from my old 10 Nuvo....easy to care for (trust me, if I can keep it alive and even get it to grow it has to be easy).  Plus, with some flow, it is constantly swaying.  

[KCReef]

Thanks everyone for the comments.  It's great to have accomplished nano reefers provide some suggestions.  Spazizz, I checked out your tank, its a work of art.  I really like the hammer garden you have at the top.  Grouping them together like that really creates a nice sense of fullness.  It's like gardening, when you plant a bunch of the same plants in a group.  Except you don't have to worry about your rododendrons stinging each other in gardening 😆.  I was able to snap a few pictures of the tank before work.  I really need to improve my aquarium camera work.  We have really high ceilings with window up near the ceiling so there is a lot of reflection off the glass during the day.  I was able to get these at night.

 

 

Tank Updates:

 

Although its kind of janky, I really like the LED grow light (ACKE brand off amazon) that comes as a plate.  It has LEDs for white and red spectrum and fits the Fluval HOB breeder tank perfectly.  The Chaeto doubles every week.  I have a small 50g/hr pump that feeds from chamber 2, so the water flow is pretty minimial.  I also dose 1/2 capful of chaeto grow 2xweek.  At first I had the light right up against the acrylic, but it was generating too much heat and the chaeto was getting burned ( it started bleaching), so I backed it off 3 inches, and suspended it from the tank with some electrical tape and zip ties.  The plate weighs almost nothing.  I can see a bunch of copepods in there already and the display is full of them now.  The purple fire fish initially just hid in its cave, but now its out all day eating pods.

 

I think it is also doing a really good job at nutrient export (obviously since it is growing so fast).  After 2 weeks my nitrates have gone to 0, and I am increasing my feeding to see if I can get it up a little.  I was never able to get phosphates from the salifert test kit so that is less satisfying.

 

I had an issue last week where my dKH was around 6.1, which from reading seems too low.  That coincided with a copepod explosion, unrelated?  Maybe.  So I dosed NaHCO3 5 grams in divided doses over three days and it was reading 8.3 after that.  I will keep a close eye on it to make sure that it doesn't continue to go down.

 

The Dragon's breath also grew rapidly in a few weeks so I snipped off a bit and glued it to a different piece of rubble.

 

Parameters:

Salinity 1.025

Alkalinity 8.3

Ca 400

Mg 1260

Nitrates 0

Phos 0 ?

 

Current Issues:

1. I have a wee bit of turf algae on some of the Reef Rock, slightly more so on the few pieces of live rock that I have seeding the tank.  I am getting a CUC this week along with some other inverts, so we will see if that goes away, it doesn't really bother me that much right now.

2. The tank water is cloudy.  I know there needs to be a balance between nutrients and clarity, but it seems that the cloudiness is a bit more than I would like.  Some of that maybe copepods getting blown around, but some I'm sure is detritus from the HOB refugium that empties into the sump.  There is no filter before it is returned to the display.  I have filter floss/Batting/Filter sock in chamber 1 on both sides but I think the chaeto is a haven for pods and detritus that is blown back into the tank.  I don't really want to filter the stuff that is coming out of the refugium because I think its overall good for the tank but in the future I might be looking at a skimmer.

 

 

[travoose]

Like that Dragon's Breath!